Sock snaps

ABSTRACT

A Sock Snaps unit will separately hold each of a pair of clothing items, one to each side of the unit, during a mechanical laundry activity or while in storage. The purpose of the product is to prevent loss of either of a pair of small clothing items such as a mated pair of socks. The Sock Snaps unit has a left and a right separately hinged top section, with the hinges near the middle, which permits the each section to be separately raised for the placing of the clothing item. Each top section then is snapped closed using a separate lock and release mechanism on each side. Each side of the Sock Snaps unit has cones protruding in an alternating pattern from both the top and bottom sections to hold the item securely during the mechanical washing and drying of socks.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Application No. 60/517,484 filed on Nov. 5, 2003 Provisional Patent Application for inventors: Carroll L. Anderson, Neeta Shahapeti, and Thomas Tomlinson.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Sock Snaps is a household use product. The original provisional application for Sock Snaps was made on Nov. 5, 2003 by three inventors who conceived of the concept of attaching each sock of a pair of socks to a plastic molded holder made of three separate pieces. The two small round pieces would push into the single main oblong piece that contained round holds on either side. The purpose was to secure one sock per side to be held together during the wash and dry laundry cycle. The provisional application was made without a technical drawing but did include a sketch rendering of the intended invention. Prior and subsequent to the Provisional Patent Application of 2003, two of the original inventors disputed the functioning of the invention as originally conceived.

Several design sessions were held to develop the product during the period January through June 2004. One inventor, Thomas Tomlinson, did not attend any of the design sessions, the trials sessions, or the work sessions; and did not participate in the subsequent design modifications. Due to Mr. Tomlinson's decision to no longer participate, the participating inventors removed him from the application, as he was no longer available to participate the invention activity.

Design flaws were discovered with the original product concept of the Provisional Patent Application. The original concept of Sock Snaps was completely re-designed to overcome the observed design flaws of the Provisional Application design, such as holding wet material and difficulty of opening and closing the product with wet socks attached. The inventors, Carroll Anderson and Neeta Shahapeti, tested various plastic devices with differing designs to determine the ability of the product to hold wet cotton and other materials securely during both washing machine wash and rinse cycles. The hinged top is a particular design specifically developed to overcome the difficulty of getting wet or dry socks in and out of the unit and addresses the problem of holding mated material secure during laundry wash and rinse cycles while permitting thorough washing and drying of each clothing item. Other designs of products for similar use have flaws such as inability of both socks to be thoroughly washed or completed dried in a mechanical washer or dryer. Other research was performed to determine the temperature used in mechanical drying machines to determine a product material that would withstand water and heat.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It was found that no product existed with the particular design developed by Carroll Anderson and Neeta Shahapeti. The Sock Snaps product is a plastic molded material product. The Sock Snaps unit has a hinged section on the top middle that permits a rising section on each side, left and right, of the top section. Each top section will also have cones on the underside to provide retention of the sock to the Sock Snaps unit. The bottom section of the Sock Snaps unit is one solid bar with cones protruding upward alternating with the cones from the top sections. The end of both the left and right Sock Snaps top section is a lock and release design to raise and lower the top movable portion of the Sock Snaps unit. The hinged top makes sock insertion and removal an easy task. The separation of each sock to a left or right side makes thorough washing and drying possible in a mechanical washer or dryer. A single Sock Snaps unit is 2.88″×0.55″×0.6″ in the closed position.

A single Sock Snaps unit will hold the two socks of a pair of socks one to each side of the unit. The cones will provide retention of socks during the mechanical washing and rinsing of socks in an automatic washer. The material (plastic molding) will permit the drying of socks in a mechanical dryer. No product of this design appears in the market today.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The Sock Snaps product is a completely ‘new to the world’ product. Sock Snaps is made from molded plastic suitable for both water emersion and dryer heating. Sock Snaps has a hinged top, see FIG. 1, to permit ‘loading’ and ‘unloading’ of one sock per side; securely holds each of a pair of socks separately; has alternating cones to secure each sock to the left and right side of the unit; and allows thorough washing and drying of a pair of socks in a mechanical washer and dryer. Seven of the eight existing competing products are single unit designs in the shape of circle or rectangle clip that hold two pairs of socks jointly bound in each unit one sock atop the other. The eighth competing product is a hock and eye fastened on each sock to attach the socks together. There is no unit designed like this product in existence today to perform the similar function.

The cone design, see FIG. 2, of Sock Snaps will not stretch or alter the material of socks. The cone design will permit the retention of each sock during the wet stage of washing and the heat stage of drying. The lock mechanism, see FIG. 3, of Sock Snaps will securely hold the mated socks together so that one of a pair is not “lost” or misplaced in the laundry cycle. The lock mechanism is sufficiently flexible to permit a human user to unsnap the mechanism and remove either sock at any time but will continue to stay fastened during the movement of a mechanical washer or dryer. 

1. We claim the Sock Snaps product is a completely new design for a household use product to prevent the loss or miss-mating of paired articles of clothing, such as socks, during the wash and dry laundry activity or during storage of mated articles while not in use. Further details of this claim include that the product, Sock Snaps, can be used on socks, gloves, matching scarves, or other clothing items in either the laundry activity or in the holding activity and overcomes the flaws of existing products to perform a similar function. The purpose of the Sock Snaps is to hold a pair of washable/dryable material separate but secure during the wash or dry laundry cycle in a mechanical washer or dryer and assumes the material to be held will be washable/dryable in a mechanical washer or dryer. Sock Snaps can hold any paired or non-paired clothing or pliable items with a total weight of less than four ounces that can be fastened and held between the cones without destruction to the held material. 